Potterhouse
by JEChurch2005
Summary: A thieving Dumbledore, a new History teacher, and his own familial inheritance will make for an exciting and dangerous fifth year for Harry James Potter. There's a blue Police Box and a red Phone Box in the corridor outside Myrtle's bathroom.
1. Discovery

_Note: Please don't count on any regular updating from me. Such is notoriously problematic for me. I won't give up, but I have a life, and it often gets in the way._

 _I don't own these players, and I'm making no money from this performance. That said, please enjoy this effort. It's somewhat Doctor-lite at the moment, focusing mostly on Harry's predicament, but I'm digging out a niche for the Time Lord to play in later._

Godric's Hollow, England, 1026 A.D...

On the outskirts of London was a stone building that was said to be haunted. For one thing, no one could actually remember it being built. For another, there would often be strange lights coming from it, and once in a while, strange sounds as well. But none of that was stranger than the man who owned the building, a man known only as the Potter. Now, the man made a living as a potter, and his work was really quite exquisite. He could make even the most utilitarian of earthen vessels a truly beautiful piece, and the ones he considered art were the most sought-after in all England. No one knew where he'd studied, and no one knew his name or origin, but because of his work, no one wanted to question him, lest he take that work and leave.

He dressed strangely, spoke strangely, and allowed his wife a great deal of latitude more than most men, though she did not abuse the privilege. People became used to the Potter, for all his eccentricities.

Then one day, the strange building was joined by a stranger blue box.

"Forget it, Doctor. I am an artist, not a fighter." The Potter paced around his small cottage, the real stone building he kept next to his TARDIS which was disguised as a stone building.

"And I respect that. Do you think I want to be fighting Daleks like this? I'm trying to find a way to stop them, not drag you into this war. And don't call me Doctor. Right now I don't deserve that title."

"Well you want me to call you 'Hey You'?" The Potter sighed. "I can't leave, Doctor. I-I did something the Time Lords will not forgive me for. If I return to Gallifrey they'll kill me. Permanently."

The Warrior looked at his old friend, remembering the man who had preceded himself and the Master at the Academy, graduating three years earlier, but who he had considered something of a peer mentor, one of the few people who hadn't looked down on him for his rebellious ways. "What is it? Their ideas of right and wrong rarely match mine, you know."

The Potter chuckled a little at that. "I do know. But I'm not sure even you'll countenance this."

"Potter?" came a voice out of the back of the cottage. A woman's voice. And it was followed a moment later by a woman's form, standing in the bedroom doorway. She was fair-skinned, with golden red hair and fine features, a lovely porcelain doll. That is, if a doll were pregnant. The Warrior stared at her in shock.

"Marie, my love, are you all right?" asked the Potter, standing from his chair and rushing over to his human wife. "Did we wake you?"

"No. I just can't seem to get comfortable." She let her husband settle her in the chair he had just vacated. "Now, who's your friend?"

"My apologies, Marie. This is an old friend of mine from home, the Doctor. He's-"

"Potter."

"Relax, Doctor. She already knows what I am. This is my wife, Marie Potter nee Peverell. Marie, the Doctor is a Time Lord, and much like myself, he disdains war, but he feels that he must fight it anyway."

For a moment, the Doctor stared at his old friend, then said, "I-I'm happy for you, Potter. I must say that I am surprised, but I am hardly one to argue against the course of true love. I've never found it myself, among our own kind or any other, but I can see that it suits you." He said, "And you've done something else, something I thought impossible for our race."

Potter grinned with pride. "Yes. Rassilon perpetuated that farcical fiction for his own ends. We can have children with any other compatible race. Pythia's magic only affected the women of our race. But she knew Rassilon would never agree to let us bring in half-bred children to fix the problem. He believed in the superiority of the Time Lords too much, and besides, technology could ensure our survival as a race, so there was no need to allow it." He smiled tenderly at Marie. "I came here looking for inspiration, Doctor, and I have found it!"

The Warrior looked at his friend and smiled the first real smile he'd had in the longest time. "All right. I won't ask you to come with me, then. You have a family, now. I-" He faltered, hating the war and all it was making him to do. "I have to do something, Potter, something I just know will rend my soul apart. But it is the only course left to me, other than to allow Rassilon to destroy all Creation. Somehow, he thinks that's winning. But if it is winning to be the only ones left, then we must lose."

The Potter gave him a horrified look. "Rassilon's Final Sanction?! They're actually going through with that?" Thoughts flitted across his face, then he realized what the only thing that could stop them would be. He swallowed hard, his stomach obviously not agreeing with what his head knew was coming for his people. "H-how will you do it?"

"The Moment. Last weapon of Ancient Gallifrey, and so powerful it will wipe them all out in a single moment." He sat down heavily on the plain wooden chair he had been offered earlier in the night.

"Can none be saved?" the Potter whispered.

"I can't let anyone know, can't evacuate the planet. It would tip off Rassilon, and he'd just set off the Sanction early. I have to catch Gallifrey and the Daleks all in one shot, and that has to be strong enough to erase both. If I don't, the rest of the universe- _all_ the universes-will cease to be. He'll kill all of Creation. And the Daleks would cheerfully steal that technology to do it themselves. There is no alternative but to stop this insanity."

"What of your mother?" He asked because the Doctor's mother was a member of the council, one of the only sane voices on it.

A ghost of future pain slid across his mind. "I know. There's no way to save her, or Susan, or Braxietel. The Master is dead, and so is Romana. I don't know where the Corsair is, but I doubt he's sitting the war out. If I could save any of them, I would. I can save you, and your child. But you must never try to find Gallifrey. This destruction will put it in a time lock, along with the Daleks, and attempting to enter it will only serve to kill you."

The Potter had tears in his eyes as he asked, "Why must it be you to play our Judas?"

The Warrior shook his head. "Who else could it be, my friend?"

"Then go. _Quod facis fac citius._ *" He nodded, then stood to leave the house, but the Potter turned him around before he let him leave and hugged him, knowing the man would not return to see him when it was done. "I hate this, but I do not hate you for it, and I never will."

"I won't survive, Potter. You will soon be the last of the Time Lords. Raise your child knowing what Gallifrey should have been."

The Potter nodded. "I swear it."

And with that the Warrior went back to his TARDIS to steal the Moment from the Archives and burn Gallifrey and the Daleks together, ending this hell for the rest of the universe at the cost of their home world.

Marie stood by her husband as the blue TARDIS dematerialized. "Where is he going?"

"He is going to kill our world, and himself." The tears in the Potter's eyes rolled down his cheeks.

Shocked, Marie turned to look him in the eye. "Why?"

"Because if he doesn't, they will kill all the worlds."

From that moment, she was silent, merely supporting her husband with her presence. She thought, _How horrible to have to make such a choice._

969 years later, 31st July, 1995, Gringott's Bank of London, vault 687. . .

Harry Potter's vault was being audited, and the audit required his presence, so the goblins had sent a car around to collect him. If they hadn't, his watchers would have stopped him. Harry knew that Dumbledore had people watching the house. He'd spotted Mad-Eye Moody a couple of times, as well as a girl whose hair kept changing colors, and several others who looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.

The first inkling he'd had that all was not right with his protectors was an owl he'd gotten from Fred and George Weasley at the beginning of summer. They'd warned him that his friends were being told not to send him letters, and that they'd overheard Dumbledore saying that he needed Harry angry. Then he'd gotten the letter from Gringott's stating that with his fifteenth birthday he now had full control of all his family's assets and asking if he wished to continue with all the financial activities currently being executed by his financial warden. The warden was Dumbledore. And a quick phone call to the bank (goblins not being nearly as backward as the rest of the wizarding world) revealed that Dumbledore was dipping into his money on a regular basis. He'd also filed a request to keep Harry in the dark about his finances, but it was against Gringott's policy to do so.

Harry had been brought to the back of the bank, into one of the offices, and there he'd sat down with two goblins. One was the Master of Accounts, Ironclaw, and the other was the Master of Probatry, Daggermouth. Ironclaw has pulled the statements of account from Harry's vault for the last thirteen years and nine months, and Daggermouth pulled the bank's copy of his parents' wills. They looked over both together, and what they found made Harry so angry, he almost lost control of his magic.

Once a month, every month, including time Harry spent in school, the Dursleys received a payment rom his account of four hundred quid, supposedly for his child support. But Harry was forced to be the Dursleys' house elf and wear Dudley's cast-off clothing. At first, this made him angry with them, but then he realized that the money was not being sent to them, but to a London bank account in the name of Brian Dumble. Perhaps the Dursleys should have cared for him because he was family, but if he had also been the source of a ready cash flow like that, it might have sweetened their attitudes. Dumbledore had stolen from them, and not knowing, they took it out on him.

Then there were the direct withdrawals. Harry himself had withdrawn a small amount each year to pay for school supplies and a few things for himself, but he'd never taken out this kind of coin. Just as the summer began, the largest such withdrawal, one for ten thousand galleons, had been made in his name. The money went into a "scholarship" fund for Hogwarts. All told those unauthorized withdrawals totaled nearly a million galleons.

There were a few legitimate business dealings that had been running since before he was born, things his parents and grandparents had started. They were keeping the vault from going under, and included patents for several potions, stocks in the Firebolt Broom Company and Zonko's Novel Enterprises, and outright ownership of Ogden's Distillery in Aberdeen. Dumbledore hadn't been able to get his hands on any of the business dealings or any of the real property because such transactions would have been noticed. But he'd taken what he could of everything else.

So now, Harry stood in his vault in Gringott's, and he was going through its non-financial contents; deeds, proprietary recipes, journals, books and magical artifacts. A cloth covered pole three meters long proved to be a rolled up tapestry, a family tree that was self-updating. An old bronze key glowed a little when he touched it, becoming warm, but the goblins didn't know yet what it went to. The arithmantic equations and notes for the Marauders' Map were priceless, both for their knowledge and their sentimental value. And there was a wizard portrait of a tall man with blue eyes and a medium woman with green eyes, both with red hair, and both wearing clothes that put them in the eleventh century. But Harry realized that there were some discrepancies. The man was wearing trainers and bifocals.

Well, it _was_ a wizarding painting, so he asked, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but who are you?"

The painted man grinned. "I am called the Potter, and this is my wife, Marie. I see questions flitting about in that head of yours. So go on! Ask!"

"Your glasses and your shoes are from the present day, but yours and your wife's clothing are from the eleventh century. How did that happen?"

"Very observant, lad. It happened because I am a time traveler. See, I'm not from this planet, or this time, and there were some things I was not going to do without just because I wanted to live in a simpler time. I don't actually need the bifocals, but they do help me get the details right in some of my smaller-scale work. As for the trainers, well, you never do know when you might have to run. I much prefer a rubber sole to a boot for that." He looked at Marie. "And I took Marie to a hospital on a different planet in the fifty-first century to have our child. I wasn't risking their health on the medical knowledge of this century."

"You're not from Earth? But that means-" Harry stopped, trying to wrap his head around it. Then an ironic snort erupted from his nose. "I guess the Dursleys were right. I _am_ a freak."

The Potter took offence to that, for both their sakes. "Hey, now, none of that. We are not freaks. We are Time Lords, members of a race that mastered travel through time and space before humans even thought about standing up to walk. And Marie is human, by the way. You're mostly human, but even as far descended as you are from me, you'll have that little spark of Time Lord that exposure to the Vortex might fan into a flame. Now every firstborn child of my line has seen this painting, but none were so young as you when they saw it. What has happened? Where is your father?"

Harry sat down on the stool the goblins had provided. "My name is Harry Potter, and nearly fourteen years ago, a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort killed my parents. He would have killed me, but my mother sacrificed herself while using an old kind of blood magic, and the curse that should have killed me was reflected back on him. Now, that didn't kill him, and I'm not sure why, but it did put him out of commission for quite some time. He was living as a shade.

"I was sent to live with my mother's family, but living with them has never been easy. They didn't want me and don't like me. When I turned eleven, I found out I was a wizard, and that my parents had been wizards. I found out they were killed and that I could go to a school for magic. Then I faced Voldemort for the first time. He was possessing my Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and living off of unicorn blood, and he tried to steal Nicholas Flammel's Philosopher's Stone from the school. I met and defeated his sixteen-year-old memory in second year. It was being held in a diary and I stabbed it with a basilisk fang. Then at the end of last school year, just over a month ago, he was able to come back. He's alive again, and he used my blood to do it. He killed a friend who was with me just because he didn't need him for the ritual. Then he forced me to duel him. I wouldn't have survived, but our wands are brothers and wouldn't fight each other."

By this time Harry had tears streaking down his face. The goblins were listening, but he ignored them. He needed to get this out, and even though this Potter was long dead, he was family, real family. "After I got home for the summer, I found out that the Headmaster has been stealing from me ever since my parents were killed. I looked up to him! But he's never seen me as anything other than a source of cash and a weapon!"

For a moment, neither Potter said anything. But eventually, the Time Lord looked at Marie and said, "Harry, I think that you, more than any other child descended from us, both need and deserve the knowledge of the Time Lords. First though, let's deal with your money problems. Honored goblins, is the Kanli Statute still on the books?"

Ironclaw and his assistant, Hammerfist, both grinned at him with their sharpened, enameled teeth. "It is."

Harry wiped the tears off his face and said, "What is the Kanli Statute?"

The Potter said, "'Kanli' is a Turkish word meaning 'blooded'. In this instance, it is describing a feud between two families, and the statute is in place to keep blood out of the fight. Instead, if Kanli is invoked, and proven within the bounds of the law, then the wronged party has the right to make the other party bleed financially until they are destitute. If Dumbledore cannot repay what is owed, you will effectively own him until he can, and any money he makes will flow into your coffers until the debt is paid or he is dead. Such a debt can also be passed on to any siblings or children, but not backwards to parents."

Harry's face hardened. "Master Ironclaw, has Albus Dumbledore's theft been proven to the requirements of Kanli?"

The goblin nodded. "Though it will have to be made official, there is certainly enough evidence here. It will mean a formal inquiry, and formal charges. Kanli is a civil matter, but criminal charges can result from it, given that your parents' wills were violated. You will also have to learn a ritual casting to invoke Kanli, but it is not difficult, and it only requires a drop of blood. _Technically_ it is blood magic, but it was never tarred with the same brush as other blood rituals because of the nature of the offence. This isn't some imagined slight or love quarrel. This is provable and measurable harm. The inquiry will need the full audit of the vault, but it will not need to be redone. It will also require a full audit of Dumbledore's vaults and accounts, including the Muggle one. We'll have to go through the Muggle authorities and get a warrant for his bank records, but that shouldn't be a problem. Gringott's runs a small Muggle banking concern, mostly for cross traffic and business dealings, and we will file the injunctions through that office. And most importantly, the moment the ritual is begun, Dumbledore will no longer have access to any of your money."

"Then I wish to invoke Kanli. I'd also like to make sure that the Dursleys start getting their child support payments, as well as all the back pay they are owed. By my math, that's £66,000."

"It will be done." Ironclaw said a few words to Hammerfist in Gobbledygook and he made several notes on his ever-present clipboard.

"Good," said the Potter. "Now, Kanli proceedings, while quite swift, will take a little time to get organized. I'd like to show you a part of your inheritance that Gringott's was never made aware of, simply because the laws of my own people forbade the technology from going to hands not of our race." The painted alien knelt down so he was eye-level with Harry. "I want you to have my TARDIS. If she's still alive, she'll help you. And if any of our people still life, they might help you, too, though you'll want to be selective about them. I'll help you with that."

"What happened t-to our people?" It felt strange to ask that, strange to have a people to call his own. He'd never been able to call the normal world home-his relatives had seen to that-and the wizarding world was too hot and cold, too willing to believe both the best and the worst of him at the drop of a hat. Would the Time Lords be any different?

The Potter's face saddened, though, and Harry knew this wasn't going to be good. "There was a war, a terrible war that spanned galaxies and millennia; a Time War. The laws of Time were ignored by both sides, and they were both threatening to tear reality apart in order to be the victors. Our home world, Gallifrey, was beautiful, Harry, but the Time Lord society was not, and they fought an enemy called the Daleks who were just as deadly. One man stood against both sides, against the insanity of the war and the politicians who were directing it. And that man was forced to destroy our world to save the rest of the universe. If anyone survived, it is him."

"Why didn't you survive?"

"Oh, I did, but this was my last regeneration. I'm six thousand years old, and frankly, I'm just glad that I'm ending my life on such a high note. I doubt I'll live another two hundred years, but I've done what no Time Lord has in millions of years-I've made a family, sired a son!

"Now Harry, there is a small key somewhere in here. If my TARDIS lives, the key will warm up when you touch it."

"Six _thousand_?" It boggled Harry's mind that he might live to see an age like that.

"Yes, but that's part of the Time Lord history you'll be learning later. Go ahead and get that key."

He remembered the key, and ran to pick it up. The bronze metal warmed in his hand, and he showed it to the Potter. It glowed with yellow light, but it wasn't the glow of heat. The metal wasn't _that_ hot. But the glow and the heat seemed to seep into the painting, and the Potter said, "Now, here's the very cool thing about this painting, Harry. This wizarding painting was done over the top of a Time Lord painting, a moment in time captured by a stasis cube." He pointed to the little crystal cube with rounded edges that was in among the gems. "Touch the key to the cube. That'll call her through. She'll dematerialize from the moment in the painting and rematerialize somewhere close to you."

Harry got an odd little smile on his faced. "What is she?"

"She's my time ship. T.A.R.D.I.S. Time And Relative Dimension In Space, a sentient vessel capable of traveling all over time and space, from beginning to end, and anywhere in between. And she's your inheritance. She'll treat you right, Harry, and if you choose to activate that sleeping bit of Time Lord in your genes, she'll help you to learn everything you need to become a Time Lord yourself, but the kind of Time Lord that they should have been, one who is not so arrogant and superior that they think they are above the rest of the universe. It is your choice, and not one to be made lightly, so take advantage of her library first. Oh, and make sure you bring this painting with you. I'll be able to start you learning how to fly her."

So Harry did as he was bidden and laid the TARDIS key on the stasis cube. Light flooded the vault and he was blinded for a moment. When he could see again, a sound seemed to issue out of thin air behind the two goblins, out on the ledge where people got out of the carts to get into their vaults. Excited to see this TARDIS, Harry quickly left the vault to see-

A stone pillar, one that blended into the stone around it as if it were a part of the cavern walls. Hammerfist said, "That wasn't there a second ago. Stone pillars don't just appear out of thin air! This must be the vessel, with some kind of illusion disguising it."

Harry went back and grabbed the key, then returned, trying to find a keyhole to match it. There, about three feet from the ground, he found it, a tiny hole that the key would fit into perfectly. He took a deep breath, put the key into the hole, and turned it, almost surprised when it actually worked. The lock clicked open, and the seam of the door appeared. Grinning, Harry pulled the door open and stepped inside.

The inside was so much bigger than the outside, which only surprised him because it was not a magical device, but a technological one. Entering the time ship, he looked around and drank in what he was seeing. It was a huge room that was constructed as six conjoined gothic arches of a red lacquered substance, with flying buttresses on each that supported a second level. In the center, the arches met in a column, which was interrupted by a clear hexagonal tube. Inside the tube were six tubes of golden light which lit the room along with the recessed circular lights in the curved ceiling.

On the column was a large hexagonal workstation or console, each with a large monitor, a keyboard, a switchboard, and a smaller inset monitor. The floors and stairs were polished black stone with veins of gold running throughout. There were five doors heading out of the room, each a gothic arch shape and made from the same red lacquer as the arches and possessed of a brass knob. There was a bench seat that ran in a semicircle around the console that was decorated in crimson with gold buttons, and running around the entire "ground" floor was a safety railing of polished steel that reflected the red and gold of the rest of the room.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound woefully inadequate.

And then there was the hum. A two-fold sound, the hum of the TARDIS was both a low mechanical hum, like a vent or an engine, and a musical whisper of thought in his mind. He remembered that the Potter had said the TARDIS was a living thing, not just a ship. Could she understand him? Hesitantly, he said, "Hello?"

A feeling of amusement and a flicker of the lights was his answer. Oh, yes, she could understand!

A delighted grin spread across his face. "I'm Harry Potter. The other Potter, the one in the painting I mean, he said you could help me. I want to learn about my family, where we came from. I need to decide whether to become, well, a Time Lord."

Kanli proceedings were guaranteed to take at least a week, which Harry used to learn the Rite of Kanli and to attack the first two books that his TARDIS wanted him to read; _The Basics of Time Travel_ and _A Condensed History of Gallifrey_. He had sent a messenger to his relatives' home with instructions to remove all magical items from the house and to give them the paperwork needed for their portion of the Kanli, which was the child support that had been stolen from them. After the week was over, the Potter showed Harry how to pilot the TARDIS enough to get him to Privet Drive without going through time. It was time for a conversation. But first he'd have to deal with the wizards who were watching the house.

Since he'd gotten his things, Harry got out his invisibility cloak, knowing the only one who would see him would be either Dumbledore himself or Mad-Eye Moody. Hell, Mad-Eye would probably cheer him on. But still, he approached cautiously, trying to spot whoever was watching intending to slip into the house without alerting them.

He found the girl with the color-changing hair, and the dirty scrounger who was always looking for something to steal, but he also spotted the twins and Remus. Fred and George had already proved themselves very loyal to Harry, and had told him about Dumbledore's machinations, so he approached them first in the darkness. Taking great care not to make any sounds but whispers, Harry said to them, "I'm here. Don't let anyone know you've seen me."

Fred, at least Harry thought it was Fred, said, "Harry are you insane?! Why'd you come back?"

George said, "We thought you ran away!"

He grinned, though they couldn't see him. "Not yet. There's still a few things to be handled first. Will I be able to get into the house without setting something off?"

"No," answered Fred. "He's in a towering rage, and we've been ordered to take you to him the second you're seen."

"Apparently _someone_ invoked the Rite of Kanli against him," said George.

"The bastard has been stealing from me since my parents died. He wanted angry? Well he got it. Now, I need to know; did either Ron or Hermione just go along with Dumbledore, or were they forced?"

"He screens all outgoing mail from their location," said Fred.

"Can we get them away from him for an afternoon? There are some things they and you need to know, Remus and Sirius too if you think they can be trusted."

"A shopping trip might be arranged. When?" asked George.

"Tomorrow, but where is a better question."

"There's a little cafe we go to sometimes on Holloway Road. It won't be suspicious, but it'll have to be quick."

"Are you staying somewhere safe, Harry?"

"Yeah. This place is tighter than Gringott's. I'm learning quite a bit, as well. I'll fill you all in tomorrow. Thanks, mates."

Harry left the twins and quickly made his way back to the TARDIS. Since he couldn't slip in, he'd put the time ship in the sitting room and ask them to tea.

* _Quod facis fac citius:_ That thou doest, do quickly _. John 13:27_


	2. Conversations and Visitors

**Chapter Two: Conversations and Visitors**

The Dursleys were on edge, and had been for days. Something was going on with the wizards; Harry had left a week ago and hadn't returned, a man had come from a bank about money that they should have been getting from Lily's estate for Harry's care, and strange people had been seen all over the neighborhood. So when the cupboard under the stairs sprouted a new extension, they were angry, but not too surprised.

The door opened a crack, and out of that crack came a little white flag and Harry's voice. "Can we talk?"

"Potter?" asked Vernon.

"Yeah."

"What is going on? Come out of there."

Harry stepped out of the cupboard, looking around for any signs of magic that might indicate an attack. Satisfied that it was safe, Harry emerged into the sitting room and said, "Thanks. You lot deserve to know what's going on. You fancy a cuppa? I'd invite you in, but it's really weird in there, even for my standards."

Vernon looked at Petunia, both disarmed by Harry's manner. "Very well. And you'll tell us about all this nonsense?"

"Yes, sir."

It didn't take long for the kettle to go off, and for once Harry wasn't slighted at the table. He got to eat a couple of biscuits with the tea, which was all anyone else had. "All right. You signed the papers I sent from the bank, but they were just an acknowledgement. What's happening is a bit complicated, but let me get all the way through, and then I'll answer any questions." The nodded, and Harry forged forward. He explained all he had discovered about Dumbledore's theft and his ignoring of the wills, but he left out the part about being part alien.

Vernon and Petunia were as angry as Harry had ever seen them, but for once it was not at him. "So you should never have come here?" said Petunia.

"That's right, and if I can make it happen, you won't have to take me back. But you need to know the consequences of that, as well. Whatever else Dumbledore did, he did want me safe from dark wizards while I was here. The magic that protects this place will stop if I don't come back for two weeks out of every year. That's not a threat; it's just how the magic works. And now that Voldemort is alive again, you'd all be in danger if you stayed here and I didn't." Harry sighed. "It's a tough decision all around, I know. But I'm willing to help you with whatever you decide to do, whether that's magically or financially."

Dudley had been listening to all this, but there was a different question that Harry hadn't answered. "What's that thing you came out of? It's not really the cupboard."

Harry grinned. "You're right. It's not even magic, but I'm not sure you really want to know just how right you all were about me being a freak. It's something I inherited from a distant ancestor on my father's side."

"That's enough," said Petunia. "We don't want to know. I wish we didn't know about magic." She looked her nephew in the eye with an expression that was trying not to be a glare. "You'd help us leave if we asked?"

"Yes. The account you named on the paperwork earlier would receive an extra gift, say £150,000. That should be enough for you to find another place, and get to keep most if not all of the child support money. That's not coming from the Kanli, either. It'll be an inheritance from you sister."

"Kanli?" asked Vernon.

"A Turkish word for a kind of blood feud, which I declared against Dumbledore."

"What about you, P-Harry?" asked Petunia. "If we're no longer your legal guardians, who would be?"

"I'm trying for legal emancipation. I have plenty of funds to see me through until I've graduated and can start earning a living, even without what he's nicked from me."

She frowned at him. "You say you'll be fine financially, but there are other considerations." She paused, staring at him, but in a way that said she was gathering her thoughts. "Before I consent to this emancipation, which I agree is in both our best interests, I want to know that there will be an adult looking out for you, even if they are not your legal guardian, someone you trust and can go to if you need something, or someone to talk to." Her expression lightened into something that could almost be called a smile. "I respect what you are doing, that you care that we were stolen from, and I want you to succeed."

Harry was stunned. "I-Thank you." He thought about what she had said. "I've got a couple of ideas, but I've got to sound them out. I'll let you know within a couple of days, and I'll make sure to use regular post. The wizards won't think to screen it."

"All right."

Harry sipped an iced tea in the café while waiting for everyone to show up. He was wearing good Muggle clothing that actually fit, gifts from his TARDIS, and a flat brown wig with fringe to hide his scar and trademark hair. He was wearing brown contacts, as well, and as a result he looked like a completely different person. His back was to door, but there was a mirror in the corner that let him see the entire dining room, so he wouldn't be caught by surprise.

Fred and George came in first, followed quickly by Ron and Hermione, then more sedately by Remus. "He's not here!" Ron shouted.

Hermione hissed, "Hush, Ron! Do you want to give everything away? Dumbledore could have someone following us."

Ron slumped a little. "I'm just worried about him."

She softened. "I know, and so are the rest of us."

George said, "Speak for yourselves, mates."

Fred finished, "We think Harry's got this buttoned up."

Remus interrupted them all. "If Harry is choosing to be so cautious, we should follow his lead. Let's get our order put in so we have the food to bring back. That's our cover for the moment, so we stick to it."

They put in the order, by which Harry was able to hazard a guess that there were some thirty people who would be eating with them. Remus paid for the food, and the teens sat at the table next to Harry to wait. Remus turned back around and stood between the two tables. He looked at the apparent stranger and said, "Messers Moony and Padfoot send their greetings."

Harry grinned, glad that it had been Remus who figured it out. "Mr. Prongs sends his in return." His identity verified he said, "Sit at the table and act like you're talking amongst yourselves. We've only got 'till the food is done, but since you're apparently feeding an army, we've got a while."

"What's going on, Harry?" asked Remus. "The goblins are ready to declare Albus Dumbledore a thief!"

"That's because he is one." As concisely as possible, Harry outlined Dumbledore's crimes against him. And that's only part of the story. I learned something while I was auditing my vault. Remus, did you ever see the painting of the ginger couple that hangs in there?"

"The one called 'The Potter and Marie'?"

"That's them. Well the Potter gave me a part of the inheritance that could only go to the descendent with the greatest need. He told me something about himself, something he's never told any other, and he gave me something that will change _everything_. I want to show it to you all; I have a decision to make and I need help to make the right one. But I don't want to give Dumbledore a reason to move against any of you."

Remus said, "What kind of decision?"

"The choice whether to become something more than just a wizard, something nearly unique in all the universe."

"Nearly unique?"

Harry shrugged. "The Potter thinks there might be one other left. Certainly no more than that, though."

Remus thought about it. "You've declared your intent to invoke Kanli. When do you do the ritual?"

"Tonight."

"Then tomorrow will be soon enough. The goblins will take him into custody in the morning to read the Rites of Accusation, but you won't need to be there with them until the binding ceremony. Where should we meet you?"

The park in Surrey, by the swings," Harry said immediately. "I'll wait for you, hidden, and then I'll bring you all in. Can Sirius make it?"

"Well, it's dangerous for him to be about."

"He'll be safe with us, I promise."

Remus nodded. "All right, I'll get him to come along as Padfoot." The girl behind the counter was waving them over. "Food is done. We'd best be getting back. We'll see you tomorrow morning, Harry."

"Thank you all for coming, for standing with me."

In unison, Fred and George said, "We wouldn't stand anywhere else."

Hermione said, "What Dumbledore's been doing is wrong. He wants to win against You-Know-Who, but he doesn't care who he hurts in the process. Besides, I've stood with ever since you jumped on that troll's back, and I certainly have no plans to leave you now."

"Yeah, Harry," said Ron, smiling. "I know I can be a jealous git sometimes, but I'll still take you over anyone else."

Harry was grinning widely. "Thanks everyone. See you all in the morning.

He stayed in the TARDIS that night, as he had every night since leaving the Dursleys' home, and he wrote Aunt Petunia a letter about Remus, assuring her that he would be proper adult backup for him and hopefully allaying her concerns about his emancipation. At 11:00 he landed the TARDIS back in the goblin tunnels, just outside his vault, and he was met at his front door by Griphook, who took him back up to the bank proper so he could perform the Rite of Kanli.

The Rite was a ritual that involved a small amount of blood, the runes for vengeance patience and gold, the full name of the person accused, and an incantation. Harry stood in front of a lit candle and cut his finger with a ceremonial dagger. He let a drop of blood fall into the candle, then wrote in the air, like the memory of Tom Riddle had once done, Dumbledore's full name. Then he drew the runes in the same way and the fiery symbols surrounded the name. He spoke the words of the spell, which was Turkish instead of Latin, " _H_ _ırsız, hırsız olduğunu söyle. Kendine arkadaş diyen düşmanım var. Kan akışının bizim kan davası, sonsuz, ölünceye kadar_." _Thief I name you, for thief you are. You are my enemy, who called himself friend. Let the blood of our feud flow, unceasing, until death._

Harry's wand flashed, and the runes bonded themselves to the name, and then the combined symbols fell into a piece of parchment that was sat there for that purpose. He dripped wax from the candle onto the parchment and pressed his family seal, which he'd found during the audit, into the wax. With that, the ritual was done, and the sealed parchment was taken to be filed with the rest of the records on the matter.

The ritual actually took quite a bit of magic, and by the time he was taken back to his TARDIS he was quite ready for bed. The portrait of the Potter, which was now hanging in a place of honor in the console room, asked, "Have you decided about becoming a Time Lord?"

He shook his head. "No. I want to call the Doctor first, find out if he's still alive. I'm not sure I really want to be the last of the Time Lords. It seems like it would be a very long and lonely life."

Dumbledore was truly shocked when the goblins came for him. Bad enough they had declared him a thief, but to actually take him in?! A full Kanli hadn't been invoked in over a hundred years! And that boy! How did he even find out about the statute? The goblins should never have moved against him, but for Harry Potter to do so was insane! He was supposed to be grieving over Cedric Diggory and angry at everyone for not doing what he thought they should, not investigating his vault and having him arrested!

But everyone around him knew better. The goblins would never act unless they had proof, and Kanli was one of the oldest laws in their treaty with the wizards, making it one of the most respected, as well. It was a way to keep blood out of the streets if one pureblood family went up against another over matters of money. Before that treaty, several families had been exterminated over blood feuds like that. By invoking Kanli, Harry was actually preventing the old man from being imprisoned in Azkaban or beheaded.

While most of the Order of the Phoenix reeled from the loss of their leader, Remus, Sirius, and Harry's closest friends left Grimauld Place for Surrey. They also brought Ginny with them because she had found out what they were up to. She was just as interested in helping Harry as they were, and it was the only way to keep her shut.

The park was deserted until they arrived. The swings moved with the light breeze, blowing some of the sand against the walls of the green garden shed where the council kept their tools, but there was no sign of Harry-until he spoke in Hermione's ear. "Ginny?"

"She's with us, I promise."

"All right. I trust you." Louder, Harry said to everyone, "The shed there is where we're going." Still covered by his invisibility cloak, he took a look around the park, trying to see if anyone had followed his friends. Remus was looking, as well, but neither of them spotted anyone. Harry pulled the hood of the cloak back and took out his key, which was hanging from a chain around his neck.

Ron said, "It's a shed."

Harry grinned. "Remember the tents we used during the Quidditch Cup?" Ron nodded, then he opened the door, letting everyone in. "This is nothing like that."

The wizards all gaped in awe around the console room. They'd seen many things, but nothing is like a TARDIS. Hermione saw the computers and made a leap of logic into astonishment. "It's bigger on the inside, but it has working electronics? Electricity doesn't work around magic!"

The Potter answered her from the wall. "And this is neither! The energy used by a TARDIS is not magic, nor is it electrical. It is Artron radiation, several different plasmas, and a black hole, all run by a sentient twelve-dimensional being. Welcome, all!"

Harry said, "Yeah, I think that was a little fast for them. I know it was for me."

"A black hole?" asked Fred.

"How does a dead star power anything?" asked George.

Surprisingly, Hermione beat the Potter to the punch. "By bending space-time to allow for travel through it. A current theory of one branch of Muggle science, but I was unaware that anyone had achieved anything close to realizing it!"

Marie Potter almost never spoke, coming from a different time where women were more demure, but she said, "I like that one."

The Potter was too busy gaping at her to answer for a moment, but then he shook his head to clear it. "So do I. Yes, that's quite correct. The thing is, young lady, I'm not a Muggle, nor am I a wizard."

Sirius figured that one out. "Extraterrestrial." He grinned. "James was part alien."

Harry grinned back at him. "Yes, he was. So am I, of course. Shall we go to the kitchen for tea? This is going to take some telling." He had done a bit of exploring over the week he had been living in the TARDIS, and he had found the library, the living quarters, the kitchen, the owlery and the pool. He knew that he hadn't come close to seeing everything, though. He gave them the tour, explaining that the ship was alive and that she was practically endless. He finally brought them to the kitchen, which was done in a 1950s diner style, and put the kettle on while they all sat around the table.

"So," said Ron, "you're living in a shed that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere, anywhen, in the universe. Oh, and you're part alien."

"Yes. And this ship has enough technology to seriously change the outcome of the war. Magic and armaments cannot pierce her shielding, and she has weapons onboard that Voldemort couldn't hope to defend against." He looked at the floor. "I'm just not sure I want to use them."

Ginny asked, "It travels through time. Can't you go back and keep Voldemort from-"

"No," Harry said, cutting her off. "Voldemort has affected our lives directly, and the book the TARDIS had me read on the rules of time travel are very clear. It would cause a paradox, one that could rip open the universe." He sighed. "Back in third year, I went back in time just three hours with Hermione. Knowing what I know now, that adventure was so dangerous, but we had created a circular paradox, and that meant it had to be fulfilled, or it would have collapsed. I saw myself summon the Patronus that saved me and Sirius. I thought I was seeing my dad because I look like him, and because my Patronus is Prongs, his Animagus form. Then when I summoned it, I knew I could do it, because I already had.

"That's a very simple paradox, one that makes things happen. A paradox that _stops_ something happening will cause a wound in the universe, a wound that can get infected. There are creatures that live in the Time Vortex called Reapers. They'll get into a wound in Time and wipe out everything related to it, usually the whole planet." He sighed. "I'd love to stop him before he ever became a problem, somehow fix him when he was just a kid. But he directly influenced my life and if I were to stop him then, he wouldn't influence my life, and I wouldn't be able to go back in time to stop him."

Hermione nodded. "The trouble I went to that year to keep myself from causing that very thing-and then I was sleep deprived, so I started making mistakes."

Harry said, "I meant to ask; why didn't you use the Time Turner to get more sleep?"

She gave him a sheepish grin. "I didn't want to waste the sand on sleep when I could studying."

That made everyone laugh.

"It sounds like, though, that being able to travel through time is not the thing you need to ask us about," said Remus. "You said you have a decision to make?"

"Yeah." Harry nervously took a deep breath. "I have that little bit of Time Lord in me, a spark that could be used to ignite an inferno. The technology to do that exists here on the TARDIS. I could become a full Time Lord, if I choose to."

Dead silence met that announcement. The kettle screamed giving everyone a moment to process while Harry poured the hot water over the leaves in all eight cups. "So," Remus said quietly, "The real question is what do you want to do? And Harry, there is no reason to make this decision quickly."

He shrugged. "There are advantages to being a Time Lord, though, physical advantages. They have a trick, you see, to cheat death. When they physically get too old or injured to continue living, they change themselves, every cell in their body, becoming essentially a new person. Same memories, same soul, but different in every other respect. It's called regeneration, and they can do this twelve times. The Potter was over six _thousand_ years old when he died. If Voldemort were to hit me with the Killing Curse as a Time Lord, there's every chance that I would survive it.

"Then there are the other advantages: greater strength from denser muscles, greater endurance from having two hearts and a respiratory bypass, much greater resistance to chemical and biological agents, greater intelligence and mental capacity, some telepathy." He sighed as he passed out the tea. "Of course it means that I'll likely outlive all of you. I'd have to watch everyone around me get old and die. Time Lords aren't even considered adults until they're at least two hundred years old, and if there are any left, there's only one. I'd end up alone.

"And their society? The TARDIS gave me a couple of books to read in the beginning; _The Basics of Time Travel_ and _A Condensed History of Gallifrey_. Gallifrey was the home world of the Time Lords." Harry shook his head. "It wasn't pretty. I'm just not sure I want to be a part of it."

Hermione asked, "Have you tried to contact this other Time Lord?"

"I sent out a message last night, but he hasn't responded yet." As if on cue, the sound of a door chime tolled through the TARDIS. Harry gaped at Hermione, and she looked back at him with wide eyes.

"Go!"

Harry shook himself and ran back through the TARDIS to the console room. He looked at one of the big monitors, which was showing the person who was requesting entrance and running a basic physical scan. It was a human-looking man with straight brown hair wearing a tweed jacket and a bow tie, but the scan showed he was a Time Lord. He was shouting, "Hello? Did someone call for a Doctor?"

The Doctor didn't know what to expect when the door to the other TARDIS opened. He didn't feel another Time Lord, but he could tell that the ship was alive. He couldn't help but wonder who could be driving it and why they had sent him a message on the ship-to-ship comms. He'd actually thought that the comm system on his own TARDIS was disabled until the message came through. It had read simply, _Need to meet you. My decision will affect you. Come for tea?_ Then it had listed a set of space-time coordinates.

Whatever he had expected, though, it certainly hadn't been a teenaged human boy. He had messy black hair and a pair of square-framed spectacles over the most intensely green eyes he had ever seen in a human face. "Hello," said the boy. "Kettle's hot, and we haven't got out the jam yet. Would you car to join us?"

"Love to. Might I have your name, though?"

"It's Harry, sir. Harry Potter."

"Potter, you say?"

He smiled shyly as he stepped back to let the Doctor into his TARDIS. "I understand you knew a relative of mine once."

"I-I think I might have." The Potter? Well, he knew the man had gone and started a family. But that was nearly a thousand years ago by this time. Had they continued time traveling? He looked around the console room, taking in the decoration theme. Interesting choice. He wondered if she had changed for the boy, and if so, did he know it?

"Well, I see you survived," came a familiar voice. The Doctor's head snapped up, but instead of seeing the Potter himself, he saw a portrait. It was a highly detailed oil of the Potter and his wife, but-then the figure in the painting _moved_! "You're not imagining things. My lovely Marie is a witch, as her family have been for generations, and she had this portrait commissioned taking up the mantle, as it were."

"Witches?"

The Potter stared at him. "Don't tell me you've never run across their lot? With the way you're in love with this planet?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at the portrait. "Ran across a trio of Carionites a couple of centuries back, in Shakespeare's London."

"Not the same. Not even close." The Potter chuckled and turned to Harry. "Lad, you'll educate him?"

"'Course. I've got all my friends here for tea. They're trying to help me with all of this, and with things that strictly pertain to the wizarding world." He then led the bemused Doctor through the short corridor that led to the kitchen.

There were seven other people in the kitchen, five of them teens of similar age to Harry, and two adult men. Harry introduced them, and then got down to the business of explaining the situation he had found himself in. He described a war against a magical Hitler figure, a war that had begun anew after nearly fourteen years of quiet, a teacher who stole from his student, and the choice that lay ahead of a fifteen-year-old boy to be or not to be. While Harry passed out the jam and biscuits, the Doctor ruminated over all that he'd been told.

"To be so young, you have quite a bit on your shoulders. And you still want emancipation?"

Harry nodded solemnly. "I know that part of their bitterness toward me over the years was that they were never compensated for my care, and when they saw me trying to rectify that, they softened up a bit, but the Dursleys do not like magic, not even Muggle magic like David Copperfield. Aunt Petunia did say she won't agree to it unless I've got competent adult backup, people I can trust, but she's just as ready to be quit of me as I am of her."

The Doctor nodded, glad that both parties were being adults about it, but those closer to Harry were concerned. "Harry," Sirius began, "you know I'd take you in."

"Sirius, you're a wanted fugitive, no matter that we know you are innocent. Remus is legally ineligible, so can't adopt me, and the Weasleys still have all four of you living at home. There's no one else I'd trust enough to live with them, and if I let the Ministry pick someone, I'd end up with Malfoy or worse."

Ron said, "Yeah, he'd end up sent to You-Know-Who wrapped up like a Christmas present."

Hermione said, "My parents are pretty adamant that they don't want any more children. Not that you aren't already a brother to me."

Harry grinned at her with appreciation. "Thanks."

"Too bad portraits don't count," said Fred.

George finished, "Because the Potter's your real family."

Ginny, the quietest one of the bunch, seemed to gather herself, and said, "Harry'll be fine on his own, just so long as he isn't alone. You've got all of us, Harry."

He looked at her, seeming to need to measure something. "You're not mad at me for refusing to go back in time and kill Tom Riddle in his cradle? I know how he hurt you."

The Doctor's eyes flew open at that, but Ginny just shook her head. "No. You're right. If it would damage the present to change the past, we shouldn't do it. Instead we have to make sure he can't hurt anyone else."

Harry smiled proudly. "Yes, we will." He looked at the Doctor and said, "I don't know much about the Time Lords, but what I've read I don't like. They seem like the worst of our own government, only magnified. If I do this, I'm deciding here and now that I won't be like that. I won't withhold aid when I can help and not cause paradoxes, and I won't punish people for getting better than me. A Time Lord may be superior to a human, but I don't think they're better than one. Do you agree?"

The Doctor grinned. "Amazing. And you're only fifteen! Obviously you don't know everything that happened, and there are some things that you can't understand right now because you're human. But let me say, with that attitude, if you do choose to become one, I think you'll be a great one." He shifted and changed the subject. "Now, I have never seen magic, not like what you lot have been describing. It is some kind of biological function or technology?"

Hermione said, "A little of both, but really neither. I don't know if magic is energy or a particle or both, though I'm leaning toward both, like light and electricity are. Harry, have you got any candles in this kitchen? I don't want to use a conjured one for a demonstration."

"Um, sure. I think I saw a packet of birthday candles." He stood to get them.

"That'll be fine." She turned back to the Doctor, apparently happy as a clam to have a scientific mind to bounce her knowledge off of. "Magic obeys some of the laws of particle physics, including the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. One simple spell we learn the first year of school is Incendio, which can light a small fire or a big one. The words of a spell are meant to focus our minds so that the magic works. They aren't truly necessary, but they make it much easier, and a mind that can't even focus enough to pronounce the spell correctly doesn't have the focus required to focus their magic. The wand has been developed over millennia to aid in that focus and to provide an aiming mechanism." Harry at one of the candles on the table and Hermione aimed her wand at it. She flicked her wand in a tight spiraling motion while saying the word "incendio". Sparkles and a spiral of light shot from the wand to the candle and ignited the wick.

Excited to be seeing something so new to him, the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and set it to scan all particle wavelengths. "Do that again?"

Hermione obliged. The sonic picked up an amazing array of exotic particles hanging about all eight of the humans in the room, and it detected the exact frequency that Hermione was using to use those particles. She wasn't wrong, either. It was a psionic frequency, one which seemed designed to attract and use the energy that existed in between molecules, the energy of vacuum or space. "That is extraordinary! I had no idea that any humans had evolved to use vacuum energy. In fact, I can't think of any other species who can use it naturally like that!" _(AN: I'm borrowing this concept from althor42's "Tar'Chell's Wrath" but there will be no other mention of SG-1-like concepts.)_

Hermione gaped at him. "Why didn't I think of that?" She was used to being the smartest person in the room, and she was used to having to explain things. Her reaction was so priceless; Harry and Ron looked at each other and started laughing. The twins and Ginny were grinning, Sirius was giggling a little, and Remus had an indulgent smile on his face. Hermione looked put out, but Harry stood and hugged her from behind. "Never change, mate. Never change."

She looked around the table and realized the humor in it. Harry still couldn't stop laughing, and grinning at herself, she swatted him on the shoulder. "Oh, shut up, Harry."

With pride, Ron said, "Brightest witch of our generation, she is, able to explain magical theory to a Muggle!"

"Oi, don't call me a Muggle!" complained the Doctor. "What's a Muggle?" That sent them all laughing again.

They spent a couple more minutes demonstrating the major branches of magic, and Harry brought out his father's journal of notes on the making of the Marauder's Map, as well as the map itself. Remus and Sirius waxed nostalgic over the items, while Fred and George begged for the marketing rights.

But while they had answered a great many of the Doctor's questions, they had yet to ask enough of their own, and the conversation inevitably returned to him. Harry asked, "So what is it that you do?"

"All I really try to do is travel. I told someone once, the best way to own the universe is just to see it. And there really is so much to see! What I like to do is to take a friend with me, a traveling companion, because seeing things for the first time is so much better if it can be shared. Right now there's a couple, married, living in Ledworth in 2009 with a painted blue door. They think I'm dead, to be honest, but eventually, I'll surprise them. See, I'm trying to let their lives last longer for me, so I won't visit for a while. It's my only way of making their lives last, of keeping my friends," He looked over every bit of his incredible age as he said, "Because everyone dies, Harry. Eventually."

He sighed, stirring his tea as he continued. "I'm on my last regeneration, you see. Oh, I've got quite a few years left in me, as long as I'm careful, but my last couple of faces didn't last very long to be honest. Eventually, if you choose this, you will be alone, last of the Time Lords. What you make of that state will also be your own choice. The Potter's children favored their human side, until they were mostly human, ending with you. But there is a way for your children to be Time Lords instead of human. You could choose the path of rebuilding our species on a new world. Or you can let it die with you. A great many choices are laid before you, but none of them are urgent. You have all the time in the universe to make these choices."

Remus said, "Harry, I know you're looking at the tactical advantages this will give you in the coming fight, but speaking as someone who was forced to change species, I would advise you to put a great deal of thought into this before going through with it."

The Doctor scanned the scarred man with the sonic. "Lupine wavelength haemoveriform. You're a werewolf?"

Lupin raised an eyebrow at him. "I was bitten as a child. It's a disease, Doctor, but you can't catch it if you're not bitten."

"Oh, don't think I hold anything against you for it. I was just surprised. Met another one once, at exactly the _wrong_ time of the month. I and R-my companion were lucky not to get bitten. Might not have been able to infect me, but it would have her." He shook his head. "Sorry to interrupt."

Harry said, "Traveling all over the universe doesn't sound like a bad life, though. Sounds brilliant, actually."

The Doctor settled back in his chair and decided to be very honest. "It certainly can be. I've seen the beginning of the universe and the end, seen stars born and seen them die, civilizations rise and fall. I've seen awesome beauty and things so ugly they were fascinating! But I've also seen evil and terror. It can be very dangerous. My TARDIS doesn't always take me where I want to go, but she always takes me where I need to be, and that often means jumping into trouble. I've met rulers of every kind, artists, soldiers, alien creatures of every description. I've run from angels and fought the devil himself. And if you choose this life, there is only one thing I can promise you will never be, and that is bored.

"Of course, just because you become a Time Lord doesn't mean you have to travel all over the universe, either. You don't have to be me. You can choose to settle, as the Potter did. He did quite a bit of traveling earlier in his life, but always it was in search of something to practice his art on. I studied with him for a year back in my fifth body, and he was absolutely devoted to sculpture." He shrugged. "Well, obviously, given the name he chose. Really, the choice of what to do with the rest of your life is up to you, just as it would be if you remained human."

Harry shook his head after a moment or two. "I've never felt as if that were true, though. Voldemort has been trying to kill me since I was one year old! If I don't stop him, he's just going to keep coming." There were tears forming in his eyes. "Cedric Diggory is dead because I was stupid enough to fall into Voldemort's trap. I barely knew him, but he was a great guy and he didn't deserve this! I _won't_ let it happen to someone I care for!" He wiped his eyes angrily. "My life is not my own, not until he's dead or I am!"

Remus and Sirius shared a look, then Remus shrugged and Sirius stood to face Harry directly. "You're more right than you know. In the months before you were born a prophesy was made. Dumbledore heard it, and he warned your parents, which is why they went under the Fidelius Charm to hide. But he was not the only one to hear, and the first half of the prophesy was relayed to Voldemort. It said that the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord would be born as the seventh month ended to those who had defied him three times. He made the assumption that the child would be the half-blood, like he was, so he started hunting James and Lily. He didn't hear the second part of the prediction, that he would mark the child as his equal and that the child would have power he didn't understand."

Harry's hand automatically went to his scar. "Yep. And it finished by saying neither can live while the other survives. But Harry, none of that means you have to do this. The power in that prophesy isn't the power of Time. It's the power of love and family, the family you made for yourself out of the people in this room. He doesn't have friends; he has followers, and they're all scared to death of him. Nothing's guaranteed, Harry. But I'd put my money on us against him any day. So take your time deciding this. You don't have to do this to win, so make sure it's what you really want to do."

~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~


	3. Dementors and the Thief's Trial

_Note: Sorry this is so late. I've been having RL issues that-well, you don't want to hear about all of that. Sufficeth to say, I have fixed them, and I can now work on my stories with greater freedom._

 _I used to have another file on under the name MEPond, and I'm trying to get things where I can transfer those files to this pen name, because I lost the password to that one and I mistyped the phone number in the security file, so I can't even recover it. That's going to take a while because I'm doing some minor editing before I make that move. I'm not moving "The Valeyard", but I will be moving "The Broken Wheel" and "Enter, the Doctor". "The Broken Wheel" is almost finished, as I'm only going far enough in that one to complete the paradox, and I've got Chapter 5 and most of Chapter 6 finished in "Enter the Doctor" ready to be posted. That said, I lost the hand-copy on that one and the most complete version is on my work computer, from which I cannot transfer files, so I'm having to recopy the hand-copy, as well. I'm developing carpal tunnel inflammation!_

 _Anyway, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed this story and those of you who have been waiting so patiently (read decidedly_ not _!) for my updates._

 **Chapter Three: Dementors and the Thief's Trial**

Harry sat on the red bench seat in the console room, leaning back and staring at the Time Rotor, thinking about his future path. His makeshift family had already gone back to their headquarters, which was under the Fidelius Charm. Sirius had told him that the Secret would pass to him once he bound Dumbledore to the Kanli, and then he'd be able to come and visit everyone. The Doctor had left to deal with a problem in 1940, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

He was so very tempted to make the change. He knew what an advantage being a Time Lord would afford him, even in normal life. The greater intelligence and mental capacity would come in very handy this year, which was his OWL year. Thinking about that made him wonder; would he still be a wizard if he became a Time Lord?

He looked over at the portrait on the wall. "Will I still be able to do magic?"

The Potter stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Did the Doctor make any discoveries about magic?"

"He said it was psionic manipulation of vacuum energy. Waved that little machine of his with the green light at the end around Hermione while she lit a candle with her wand. Later he said something about possibly being able to mimic the ability with one of his machines. I didn't really follow it, though."

The portrait smiled at him. "You've been training your mind for four years to use that energy to purpose, and with the natural increase in mental capacity, you shouldn't lose that ability. In fact, with the greater intelligence, you'll probably gain proficiency." Harry nodded, but he didn't say anything about it. "Thinking about the binding?"

"Yeah." Tomorrow Harry would have to stand in the same room as Dumbledore as he was bound to the Kanli. He expected several other people to be there, as well, such as Arthur Weasley, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. He didn't know how they were reacting to this. He knew the Kanli was proven, without room for doubt. He knew Snape would use anything against him he could. But would Mr. Weasley understand? Or Professor McGonagall?

The console closest to him started flashing a light at him and making a beeping noise. He looked up at it and saw Dudley writhing on the ground outside in the park. The screen split into two displays of the same sceen, one visual and one infrared. Harry knew instantly what he was looking at. Dudley was being attacked by Dementors! There were two of them, and though the visual camera couldn't pick them up, they showed up as great dark blobs on the infrared, blobs whose shapes and activity were easily recognizable to Harry.

From the wall, the Potter asked, "What is it?"

Harry just shouted, "Dementors!" and ran out of the TARDIS doors, pulling his wand as he went. Immediately upon leaving the safety of the TARDIS, the depressing effect of the Dementors fell upon him like a ton of bricks. He staggered, but quickly regained his footing, trying desperately to ignore the screams of his mother in his mind. Bringing to mind the beautiful, if false, image that had been given to him by the Mirror of Erised when he was eleven, Harry aimed his wand at the demons and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

Prongs chased off the Dementors quickly and with ease, but Dudley was in a bad way. Had they gotten his soul? Harry sent Prongs to find Madame Pomfrey with the message, "Dementor attack, Muggle, Little Whinging Park." He didn't know if he could trust her any more than he knew about Professor McGonagall, but he knew Dudley was in a bad way and needed help. He knelt down next to his cousin. "Dudley, can you stand?"

"C-c-cold."

"I know, Dudley. Can you stand? I've got to get you indoors in case they come back." Harry grabbed Dudley under his arm and tried to help the heavy boy stand. But Dudley was virtually boneless, and Harry started thinking about first aid. he cast a warming charm on Dudley first. Then, concentrating on the layout of Dudley's room and its location, he summoned his candy stash, which was the emergency supply he kept in case his mother decided he needed a diet. From the pillow case, Harry pulled out everything chocolate he could find and started unwrapping the candy to feed Dudley. Eat the chocolate, Dudley. It really will make you feel better."

Madame Pomfrey arrived with a pop, and took in the scene. "Mr. Potter, What-?"

"Please, Madame Pomfrey. By the time I got to him they'd almost Kissed him! I'm still not sure they haven't. I cast a warming charm and summoned his candy bag for the chocolate, but that's all I knew to do."

"Oh, Merlin's beard!" She cast a few diagnostic charms on Dudley, nodded and tutted a bit, then said, "Well it looks like your Patronus got to him in time. He still has his soul. But he's going to need some more extensive treatment than I can give him here in a play park! Where are his parents? They're going to need to come along."

"You know, I think I've gotten them to accept me, a little, but they really don't like magic."

She snorted a that. "If they want their son to come out of this hale and whole, they'll do what they're told. All right, now, send that lovely Patronus to Remus Lupin and have him bring them here."

"All right."

~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~

It took an hour for Madame Pomfrey to convince the Dursleys that Dudley would have to be treated magically because the injury was magical. And when Harry received the letter from the Ministry stating that he was expelled, she said something completely unladylike and told Harry that he needed to disappear. "They'll have to have a hearing. They can't summarily expel someone from the school for underage magic. Professor McGonagall will see to that." She looked up at him. "You're going to need a solicitor, young man."

Harry shook his head in annoyance, a rueful grin on his face. "I'm going to be living in courtrooms for the next month, it seems. I'll hire a solicitor, I promise. Now, it'll be best for everyone if you don't know where I'm staying."

She smiled kindly at him. "I should be getting on to St. Mungo's anyway. I don't want anyone mucking around with your cousin. Imagine, setting Dementors on a child!" She shook her head and turned to leave.

He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, his face thunderous. "Setting?"

"Didn't you know? The Dementors of Azkaban are under a geis controlled by the Ministry of Magic. Someone there had to have sent them to Surrey."

Once Madame Pomfrey had Apparated away, Harry returned to his TARDIS and shut the door. For a moment, he couldn't move. Someone was trying to kill him again, already. His fifteenth year was only eight days old. Of course, he was under no illusion that the Dementors had been after Dudley, but that he'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, there was only one child those things will have been ordered to Kiss, and that was himself. He had a real enemy inside the Ministry of Magic, and now he would have to go there to defend himself against accusation of underage magic.

"Well, this is a mess, isn't it?" said the Potter. "The TARDIS showed me everything as it was happening. You've got the binding in the morning, then the emancipation hearing, and now this farce. As if self-defense wasn't a reason to use magic, even for an under-aged wizard."

Harry said, "Obviously, I have another enemy. No way those things were sent to eat Dudley. He's not really that important, not to anyone but his family. But I can see someone sending the beasts after me. I'm highly sensitive to them, and I seem to be on a lot of hit lists."

The Potter nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Agreed. Now, you are going to need a solicitor, and I'd recommend asking the goblins for a contact or two. They are essentially acting in that capacity right now with the Kanli, but that only works because it's goblin law. For human law, you need a human lawyer."

Harry nodded. "That makes sense. Well, I'm going to try and get some sleep. It's going to be an early morning."

The Potter snorted. "Lad, you're in a time machine. You've got all the time you need."

"But you haven't taught me how to fly her through time, yet, only space."

"Ah! So I haven't. Well, now is a good time for a beginner's lesson. We'll just put her into the Time Vortex and you can coast for a while, get as much sleep as you need, get in some reading on wizarding law in the 20th century."

"You have books on that? Why does a sculptor have law books in his library?"

"At some point in the future, the wizarding world produces a product called the Shrunken Stacks, and I bought one on a lark when I was visiting Salem in 2158. It's a portable library containing every wizarding book ever written. You say the password, then either the title, subject or author you're looking for and it will bring up a listing of gooks to choose from, followed by the book you choose from that list."

Harry slept himself out once he put the TARDIS into the vortex. He couldn't say how much time passed because time had no meaning, so there were no clocks, but it felt like nearly twelve hours. Then he went to the TARDIS library and found the Shrunken Stacks book. Looking it over, he had no doubt that Hermione had invented it and the Weasleys had marketed it. It worked like a combination of Tom Riddle's diary and the Marauder's Map, which meant it had been created by someone with access to both stories and the arithmantic equations for the Map, besides the fact that it was a library. And the front cover of the back said, "Shrunken Stacks; A Resource For Late-Term Studying For Exams, OWLs And Even NEWTs, brought to you by Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes!" He'd given the Weasley twins his prize money from the tournament last year in the hopes they'd get their business off the ground, as well as not wanting anything to do with the money. It looked like they would be successful.

Harry chuckled at it and wrote in the answers to the search questions, shivering a bit as the ink sunk into the parchment. Then ink started resurfacing, beginning with the title of a book, "Civil and Criminal Statutes, Wizarding Law in Britain, 1995 AD." He sighed. This was going to take a while.

~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~

Before putting the TARDIS back into normal space, Harry slept again, then he brought her out inside Gringott's. It was 5:30 in the morning, and the standing guard who the goblins had put on Harry's vault proved himself by not startling when she materialized. When Harry exited the TARDIS, he was dressed as the Lord of his House should dress, in crimson formal robes, with his House Crest embroidered on the right lapel and on the back, a matching wizard's hat, green dragonhide boots and gloves, and a dueler's wrist holster for his wand. He also wore the signet ring of the House of Potter, signifying his status as Lord, a status Dumbledore would have denied him by default. It would make clear to the Conclave that he was acting on behalf of his House, not just his person. That he was the only surviving member of his House meant little under these circumstances.

The goblin guard led him to the Conclave Chamber, and when he entered, he had to fight himself not to run in the other direction from sheer nervousness. The Lords or Ladies of twelve of the Noble Houses were required to be present for the binding of another member to Kanli. Lucius Malfoy was there, as were Crabbe and Goyle. But also present were Augusta Longbottom, Amos Diggory, Professor McGonagall and many witches and wizards he did not know. Hopefully the three Death Eaters wouldn't try anything while surrounded by goblins and light wizards.

Lord Raknot of the Gringott's Clan was presiding over the assembly, and once Harry was seated, he stood before them and said, "All present in this assembly are here to witness this act against a House of the Conclave of Britain. Here, you are under ancient law, and that law has been broken. Wizards and witches, here be a _thief_!" At his signal, the guards brought Dumbledore into the Conclave. He was disarmed, and dressed in the same robe he'd been arrested in. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, you stand before this Conclave under the blood geis of Kanli, accused of serial theft from the vaults of the House of Potter, and from those under the protection of that House. What say you to this accusation?"

Angrily, the aged wizard said, "I say it is a lie!"

"Then let the proof against you be known," said Lord Raknot.

From there the trial commenced, with only the goblins handling the evidence. Members of the Conclave were allowed to ask questions and Dumbledore was allowed to speak in his own defense, but he soon found that there was no defense of his actions. He'd stolen from the mouth of a child for nearly fourteen years, defied the wills of that child's parents, and stolen from the House Vaults of a member of the Conclave. The last thing he said was, "It is not stealing if it is to protect him!"

And then Harry spoke for himself. "Protect me from what, Professor? Your blood wards were protecting me from wizards who meant me harm, but they didn't protect me from anything else and you didn't step in yourself. I didn't even know what I was before I got my Hogwarts letter! You wanted me needy, dependent, willing to do anything for you, so you made certain that my mother's sister had no reason to treat me well. If I depended on you, you could mold me into the weapon you were convinced you needed, and use my money to fight a war that had gone quiet. You let me face dangers no child should, and still you stole from me and the people you stuck me with. So don't act like you had my interests at heart!"

Dumbledore looked at Harry with his mouth open in shock. How had this gone so badly?

Lord Raknot was obviously amused at this cub taking down one of the strongest wizards of their age, but he said nothing of it. "Are their any further questions?"

Lucius Malfoy spoke up for the first time. "As I believe that Lord Potter's claim is a valid one and that Kanli has been proven, is he now left without a guardian?"

"No. The guardianship of the Dursleys has been called into question, but through no fault of their own. It is not a matter for the Conclave, but for the wizard courts, and a hearing on the matter has been scheduled for next week at the Ministry for Magic."

Malfoy tried not to let his glee at that prospect show, but he wasn't very successful.

"If there is nothing further, let the Conclave make its opinion known. If you agree with Lord Potter's invocation of Kanli, raise your hand." Most of the hands in the room came up. "And those who do not agree." There were only three hands out of the seventeen, and Malfoy surprised him by not being one of them. "The Conclave is agreed. Albus Dumbledore, you and your House are now bound to make restitution to the House of Potter, and all your earnings will go to him until such restitution is complete. None may help you financially. None may give you money, for if they do it will go to him and his protectorate. The Rites of Kanli are hereby bound!"

Lord Raknot picked up a polished sphere of granite and crashed it against the stone circle that lay on the podium next to him. The sound was accompanied by a wave of magic, and the symbols from the right of Kanli appeared in the air. They wrapped themselves around Dumbledore and flowed into his skin. For the rest of his life, or until his debt was paid, anytime he would take money for himself, these runes would flash, and that money would flow into Harry Potter's vault.

"You are now free to leave, Dumbledore. We do not have the power to imprison you. But you should be aware that the Ministry for Magic is still free to charge you criminally in this case. This Conclave is dismissed." A goblin handed Dumbledore his wand back, and Harry tensed, not sure how he would react to having his weapon back in his hand. But he just Apparated away.

"He'll run, you know," said Malfoy. "He's lost the support of the one person he thought he could control completely."

Harry shrugged. "It won't help him. What do you want, Lord Malfoy?" It was the etiquette of the Conclave that all but the accused were addressed by their formal titles.

For a moment, the tall man simply stared at Harry, as if he was seeing him for the first time. Then he said, "What will you do if I ask for guardianship? After all, you need adults in your life that know about magic and can help you to become what a wizard should be."

Harry grinned at him, and it wasn't nice. "You wouldn't last long as my guardian, would you? You'd hand me over to him without a second thought. You can expect a fight, and I have powerful allies. Now, if you don't mind, Lady McGonagall wants a word with me." Indeed, the professor was standing politely out of earshot while they spoke, but was plainly waiting to speak to Harry herself.

"Of course. Well, I can say this, Lord Potter; it's going to be an interesting year." And with that the tall blonde man turned and glided from the room.

Harry nodded in agreement. It certainly would be.

Once Malfoy was clear, McGonagall approached him. "Mi-Lord Potter, I owe you an apology. I swear I didn't know about this, but I didn't go looking into where he got his money, either."

But he shook his head. "It's all right. I only found out because I turned fifteen."

"But I am an adult, quite capable of seeing what a child would not. No, I am at least partly to blame for all of this. I was blinded by his power and his seeming zeal for the good of our world and the Muggleborns. But no longer. What are you doing about the guardianship of the Dursley family?"

"I'm planning something, but I don't want to say what here."

She nodded. "No, that's quite sensible. All right. There is a Secret which now belongs to you. Please feel free to come and visit."

He smiled and nodded. He'd definitely be making a trip to number twelve, Grimmauld Place, in the near future.

~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~

A passerby would have noticed the tree in front of the space between numbers eleven and thirteen on Grimmauld Place. It was big, with large, shiny leaves, and unusual white flowers. It was a tree that did not belong, being an American breed, so someone unfamiliar with the neighborhood would notice it. But those who lived in Grimmauld Place did not notice it. They didn't even see it. And no one would see the door that was in the back side of the tree because it was disguised.

No one could see the young man who exited that door because he was wearing a Cloak of Invisibility.

Harry walked right through the protections at Grimmauld Place because he was now the Secret Keeper. _The headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix is located at number twelve, Grimmauld Place._ He shuddered to be subject to the same trust which had been abused by Peter Petigrew, but he knew that he would not betray that trust, and he would make certain that no one else did, either. Now, to find out what the Order of the Phoenix was.

He walked up to the house, taking in every detail. It was not a welcoming neighborhood, and this was the least welcoming home in it. The house front was filthy, and weeds choked the front garden. It looked like it had been built in the nineteenth century, and that no one had cared for the exterior since. Of course, in this drought, weeds were the only things that could grow anyway.

He shook off his reverie and walked up the stairs to the door. There was no knob or lock, only a knocker and a bell. The knocker was a silver serpent, all twisted and coiled. Harry didn't want to ring the bell, afraid of startling someone into hexing him, so he touched his wand to the knocker. The wards of the house recognized the magic of the Secret, and the door clicked open, though it didn't swing widely. Harry pushed his way in and softly shut it, making sure his cloak didn't catch in the frame.

The inside wasn't much better. It had probably been quite gorgeous once, even with the serpentine decor. It was lit from the walls by gas lights and from the ceiling by a huge chandelier, but the room still managed to be dark, mostly because of the grime that covered every surface but one, a set of black velvet curtains covering a portrait. There were other portraits on the wall, men and women who all had a certain family resemblance about them. In fact, they looked a bit like-

"Sirius, you can't just wander off to go and find him. He said he'd be here, and so he will! He's got his Mum's head on his shoulders, not just her eyes."

Sure enough, Sirius came up a stair off to the side, followed by Remus.

"Remus, we've got to let him know about the hearing, and I want my godson here! He's been left in the dark for far too long about far too much and it ends now!" Sirius seemed very agitated, and Harry wanted to let him know he was here. But he waited another moment to hear Remus's response.

Remus said, "I agree, believe me. Harry plans on taking a much greater part in this war unless I mistook his tone the other night, and with that alien machine on his side, he'll be making a hell of a difference. He needs to know everything. But don't you realize that he'll come to us? No one has to go and get him."

Harry smiled warmly and removed both the disillusionment and the cloak. "No, you don't."

They both whipped around before they could think, their wands out, but soon enough, their brains caught up. "Harry!" shouted Sirius. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just a minute or so. How long has this argument been going on?" Sirius had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sirius, I'm about to ask the courts to have me declared an adult. I know that doesn't change how you see me, but I hope you'll accept a role of guidance rather than guardianship. I need people around me that I can trust, _and_ who can trust _me_. I hope you'll both be that for me."

Sirius looked at him solemnly. "I-I want to trust you, Harry, it's just-" He sighed. "I should have been there for you, and instead I went after Peter. I know that was wrong, and I want to be there for you."

"You can be there for me, but I don't need looking after any more. I can make decisions, think things through. I may make a decision that would seem reckless or irrational in the heat of the moment, but the consequences will be my own. I'm not asking to be alone. I'm asking to be an adult."

Sirius nodded, then changed the subject. "Well, let me welcome you to my home, Harry." Remus shook his head in exasperation at his brother's avoidance of the issue.

Harry just raised an eyebrow and went with it. "This is your house? You grew up here?"

"Yes, I did. Well, it's my mother's house, really. She's been gone ten years, but she left enough of herself behind that it's still hers and not mine." He pointed at the velvet curtained portrait. "We try to keep her asleep, as she's _really_ not happy with the company I've been keeping."

Remus said, "We've tried everything to we can think of to remove her, but we don't know what she did to make the portrait stick."

Harry stared at the velvet-covered section of wall for a moment. Then he said, "Did you try cutting the wall out around her?"

Sirius was shocked and looked as if someone had struck him in the head with a pole. Remus chuckled and said, "Good man, Harry! All right, let's let everyone else know you're here, and then we can update everyone at once." He turned to lead Harry down the same stairs he'd just come up.

Both he and Harry laughed when Sirius's bewildered voice asked, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Remus grinned at him. "Because she's been driving you batty, her and Kreacher both. Come on, Padfoot. We'll cut her out later, give her to the elf. That'll make him happy."

Sirius snorted a laugh, and followed them to the stairs. "Won't it just!"

Curious, Harry asked, "Kreacher?"

"Mother's house elf. He's completely devoted to her and my brother, and now that they're gone, he's gone a little mad. We can't dismiss him because he'd be a security risk, and I'm not really planning to continue the family tradition of mounting their heads on the stair wall." Harry made a face at that. "Yes, horrible. And worse is that he'd probably consider it an honor. But there are a lot of family traditions I won't be keeping with. They weren't nice people, Harry."

He nodded. "I can relate."

Down the stairs was the basement, which was mostly occupied by an enormous kitchen. There was a large fireplace at one end, with a large table and chairs down the middle. Iron pots and braided garlic cloves decorated the ceiling, along with a rustic wagon-wheel chandelier which provided light to the room. The entire Weasley family except Percy was there, as were Alastor Moody, Professor McGonagall, Fleur Delacour, A tall black man dressed in colorful Central African robes, Amos Diggory, a small, scurrying man with scraggly red hair, the girl with the color-changing hair, and finally, Severus Snape. That last surprised him most of all, but he kept his peace because he didn't know the whole story.

Professor McGonagall smiled at him and said, "Welcome to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

snorted. "If it can be called that anymore." He glared at Harry. "The one with the Phoenix ran off, trying to outrun his blood debt to you. And I don't expect a fifteen -year-old boy to save us from You-Know-Who just because of some daft prophesy!"

"Good," said Harry, "because if I'm the only one fighting, we'll all surely die. Of course, I'll be fighting; I don't think V-You-Know-Who will let me avoid it. But this is a war, and wars are fought by armies, not individuals."

Severus sneered and stood. "And do you in your _infinite_ wisdom seek to lead us?"

Harry snorted. "I'm fifteen. I'm not fit to lead anything, with the possible exception of a Quidditch team. But I don't plan on letting anyone keep me out of the fight, either."

"But Harry," protested Mrs. Weasley, "you're just a boy! You have no business fighting in a war!"

"Do you think that will stop him from trying to kill me? Was I not only a boy in 1980? Or when he possessed Quirrel? Or in the Chamber of Secrets, or the graveyard? Voldemort doesn't care!" His use of the name started a commotion, conversely allowing Harry the time to calm down a little. "Look, I'm sorry if it upsets you. I think a great deal of both you and Mr. Weasley. But you _must_ understand. If I don't fight, he'll kill me."

Sirius said, "Of course you'll fight. You're James's son, and he'd never back down from a fight. Now, why doesn't everyone sit down, and we'll all catch each other up, shall we?"

Molly stood straighter, then said, "All right. Harry needs to hear all of it, I suppose." Then she rounded on her brood and Hermione, all of whom had listened to the argument. "But you lot don't! Go on, up the stairs with you." She went on that way, bullying the younger kids and the twins all out of the basement.

Over the next two hours, Harry learned much. Tonks, the girl whose hair changed colors, was actually a metamorphmagus, and could look any way she wanted. The scraggly ginger was Mundungus Fletcher, a no-account thief who was also an information broker. He brought in a lot of knowledge from the streets of Magical London. Kingsley Shacklebolt brought the Order information from the DMLE, since he was an Auror. So was Tonks, but she was a much more junior level yardie than Shacklebolt. McGonagall and Moody brought a strategic perspective to the table, and the Weasleys and Ms Delacourt a willingness to fight.

Snape was the spy among them against Voldemort. His information was of extreme value-if it could be trusted. And that seemed to be a point of contention, Moody and Sirius didn't trust him and McGonagall and Remus did. Dumbledore had, but that was no longer a point in his favor. Harry now had to decide if he could trust him with this. He asked, "Sir, if you didn't have to be a spy, wouldn't that be better?"

Snape's eyebrows twitched for a moment, the only sign he gave of his surprise. "You have no idea. To be a servant of the Dark Lord is a trial of it's own, one I must also balance with gathering information for both sides. You see, he believes I am _his_ spy. I must choose what to tell him that won't hurt us, but that will be proven correct, therefore giving me the illusion of usefulness. And if I fail-well it's not Death I'll fear. That'll be a mercy."

Harry looked him in the eye, trying to gauge something. Then he nodded, and said, "You have always been honest with me, Professor, and you have never allowed me to think too much of myself. You're unfair, and you're a tyrant, but you've always been consistent and shown everyone exactly who you are. I vote to trust you, so long as you continue to prove trustworthy. And I also suggest you give yourself an out. Please have an exit strategy."

Now Snape's shock was plain. So was Sirius's. "Harry, are you sure?"

He shrugged. "He has my vote."

Harry also updated everyone on his own troubles, but not on his alien heritage. He had a hearing scheduled for nine in the morning on Thursday and one at three in the afternoon on Friday. Thursday was for underage magic and Friday was for his emancipation. Both would have a great deal of influence on how he was able to fight.

Professor McGonagall let them all know that the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was trying to insert a teacher into Hogwarts' staff by passing a law that they could replace any teacher that she as the new Headmistress was unable to. "He's paranoid, refuses to believe the truth about You-Know-Who, and thinks Hogwarts will raise an army against him. The most vulnerable position is, of course, Defence Against the Dark Arts, but now that I am the Head, Transfiguration is also now open. I can't do both; it's against the school charter and it would be far too difficult." She sighed. "I could rehire Dumbledore. He used to teach Transfiguration as well."

A great deal of grumbling met that statement, but Harry didn't add to it. He could accept knowledge from the old man, and he'd receive every knut he made as salary. "We've dealt with bad Defense teachers before."

"Yes, but a Ministry assigned teacher might actually try to sabotage your education intentionally. They've tried for years to assign a common approved curriculum, but every teacher is allowed to choose their own texts."

Snape said, "It's worrisome, yes. But that is more school business than Order business. These hearings; it should be safe enough to inform the Dark Lord of them because you will be within the safety of the Ministry building. But he _will_ try to kill you or your Muggle relatives while everyone is being moved."

Harry nodded. "I'll be getting us to and from the building myself. I've hired a solicitor that the goblins recommended and arranged for a limousine to transport us there. It's a bank-owned car, and they've put certain wards on it to keep occupants unnoticed and safe. The real worry is after the hearing. If I understand the warding on their house, the moment I'm granted emancipation, they'll break."

"Do they plan to move, Harry?" asked Bill Weasley.

"Yes, and they've even picked out a new house in Pyrford."

"I could give you a good deal on a new, lightweight warding scheme for their new place. It won't feel anything like those heavy blood wards. They just won't be noticed by anyone magical."

Harry smiled. "That'd be great, Bill. Thanks."

"If that's everything, then," said Mrs. Weasley, "I think it's time we all went to bed."

Harry allowed himself to be shuffled up the stairs this time, and placed with Ron. He made it a point to give Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny as much information as he could, because he knew that, no matter what Mrs. Weasley might want, they would be standing next to hi in this fight.

Idly, as he finally allowed himself to drift off, he wondered when the Doctor would be returning to their time and place.

~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~ ~o~


End file.
